Engineering company Arup is the name that connects the Sydney Opera House to the proposed Guggenheim museum in Abu Dhabi. The owner-operated firm’s pioneering staff are the go-to guys if you want to construct the impossible…

There are countries that are simply too big to have one time zone, while others have always been a bit eccentric in their time-keeping. But for some, such as New Zealand, enterprising minds are trying to turn time to their…

Icebreaking is in the DNA of Finns, whose shipping heritage and expertise put it in good stead to face the changes ahead, from foreign competition to climate change and a race for the Arctic’s resources.

Social media and smartphones turn life into a performance but that doesn't mean it’s always showtime.

It’s fashion show season. Again. It always seems to be. But with the autumn/winter 2013 womenswear circuit underway, the biggest story to emerge is not about a drastic change in skirt length. No, it's that the circuit has…

With craft and provenance ever more central to brand strategy in fashion, Première Vision textiles show in Paris has become an industry-leading event in recent years.

With craft and provenance ever more central to brand strategy in fashion, Première Vision textiles show in Paris has become an industry-leading event in recent years. “For me fabrics always come first – only after I find…

The fishermen of Nova Scotia’s rocky southwest coast are mending their lobster traps and checking lines, but some predict the local fleet will stay at the wharf when the fishery is scheduled to open at the end of November…

The fishermen of Pubnico, Argyle, Shag Harbour and the other hamlets of Nova Scotia’s rocky southwest coast are mending their lobster traps and checking lines, but some predict the local fleet will stay at the wharf when…

The ancient Maya may have considered chocolate “the food of the gods”, but corn is the grain that has perennially powered the Mexican masses.

The ancient Maya may have considered chocolate “the food of the gods”, but corn is the grain that has perennially powered the Mexican masses. Indeed, Mexicans on average eat some 130kg of maize each year – almost two-thirds…

Massimiliano Fuksas’s 211,500 sq m Fiera, in the Rho Pero suburbs of Milan, is where the vast majority of the business action takes place during Salone.

Massimiliano Fuksas’s 211,500 sq m Fiera, in the Rho Pero suburbs of Milan, is where the vast majority of the business action takes place during Salone. It’s a gargantuan structure that hosts over 2,500 exhibitors for six…

The Italian fleet’s newest flagship, ‘Cavour’, is on an unusual mission. The privately funded aircraft carrier is travelling more than 34,000km to Africa and the Middle East to promote Italian industry and to show it comes…

Each spring the great and the good of the property industry decamp to Cannes to rub shoulders with the architects, urbanists and developers shaping the face of our cities. Monocle heads to the French Riviera to report from…

It's the largest and most important pit stop on the global toy calendar. Monocle films visits the Spielwarenmesse International Toy Fair in Nürnberg to meet the up-and-coming innovators and old-school stalwarts keeping the…

The Austrian lighting company BLL leads the industry with its progressive thinking, installing life-enhancing systems at hospitals, airports and the new Cairo Museum. Soon it will focus its light-direction technologies on…

Lumberjacks are finding themselves at the forefront of the climate change debate as ‘biomass’ (that’s burning wood chips to you and me) becomes a buzzword for the environmental movement. Monocle visited one of the largest…

Omi beef from Shiga prefecture is little known outside Japan, but its butter-soft consistency and low fat content means that restaurateurs, meat producers and diners from New York to Australia are starting to take notice…

In the next in our series decoding the DNA of success – of anything – we visit a 90-year-old tractor firm in northern Italy that through innovation and careful brand acquisition has quietly remained an engineering power…

It’s an isolated chip off the old Russian bloc that’s surrounded by wealthier EU nations. Its future is anyone’s guess – military outpost or beach resort? But with a dynamic leader and wise investment, Kaliningrad could…

Unmanned military planes and helicopters are a controversial subject but visitors and exhibitors at the Unmanned Systems North America trade fair were unfazed. They’re more excited about drones that can do the housework.